Several changes occurred on Benet Academy’s campus over the summer as construction commenced on the new Science and Activity Center. At the end of May, the school’s cafeteria was demolished to make space for the new building, and excavation of the site started as soon as students left for the summer. The 50,000-square-foot building will be a two-story structure with a basement that will house a new cafeteria, and labs and classrooms for both biology and chemistry. The current science hall will then be gutted and completely refurbished as improved physics classrooms and labs.

The building project has faced several challenges. When plans were drawn up, the connection of existing buildings to the new one proved a difficulty because not all floors align with one another. The new building will be constructed between three existing structures, filling in a courtyard. Excavating the area was done with much caution to avoid the foundations of the nearby buildings. Even though the walls of the new building will eventually adjoin those of the older ones, the foundation is smaller than the building will be, necessitating careful planning and engineering.

Once students returned for the 2007-2008 school year, another problem became apparent—parking. Since many Benet students do not live within walking distance or have access to public transportation, a majority travel to and from school by car. In previous years, the school’s parking policy has allowed juniors and seniors to park on campus with additional parking spaces across the street at Benedictine University. However, 25 percent of spaces were lost to the building, the construction zone and parking for construction workers, causing the school to revise its parking policy.

Permits for on-campus parking were issued only to seniors, and spaces were assigned for the first time. Juniors, while not prohibited from driving to school, were to park exclusively at Benedictine University. However, a large enrollment of freshmen and transfer students at the university limited to 100 the number of spaces it could give. To help with this parking crunch, St. Procopius Abbey made available 100 more spaces in its lot. As incentive to park voluntarily at the Abbey, 60 of the 100 will be given a space on campus in the new lot that will be built within the next few months.

The school’s administration has been hard at work all summer to iron out all these difficulties and make things run as smoothly and as safely as possible. The noisiest construction work was done over the summer to ensure an environment conducive to learning. A shuttle service runs in the mornings to bring those parking at the Abbey to the academy so that they do not have to cross two busy streets. The small gym, which is now serving as the cafeteria, was air-conditioned for students’ comfort, as were several other rooms in the school. Sodexho, a food service, was contracted to provide students’ lunch. Several doorways and hallways were widened to ease hall traffic, rooms were reassigned in anticipation of the changes once the new building is up, and rooms were checked for structural soundness after a ceiling collapsed in one room over the summer.

With the ever-growing concern for the environment, the school has sought ways to proceed with construction in an eco-friendly way. The air conditioning system used by the cafeteria was still in very good working condition when the cafeteria was demolished, so it was preserved and repurposed to the computer labs and AV studio. Also, since trees will be removed in order to make room for the new parking lot, another tree will be planted for every one cut down. This is in accordance with an ordinance of the village of Lisle as well as the school’s intent to care for the environment.

Once construction is complete, the number of parking spaces available will hopefully accommodate everyone’s needs. For easier accessibility, the dean’s and nurse’s office will be moved into the lobby. New hallways will help students move through the school more efficiently, and an elevator will aid those who have difficulty navigating stairs. The new building will allow the school to offer a more challenging science curriculum to its students. Starting with the class of 2013, all freshmen entering Benet will take a full year of biology. The freshman science course, which presently offers one quarter each of biology, chemistry, physics, and computer literacy, will be removed. This will allow students to gain more science credits during their high school career, and the new, state-of-the-art labs will increase the quality of education and investigative opportunities.

The principal of Benet Academy, Stephen Marth, has been closely involved with the entire process. “Our goal is to improve the educational experience of students who attend Benet,” said Marth. “The structure supports a fine curriculum that will continue to develop. We also want a more hospitable environment for those visiting our campus and a sense of walking into a Catholic, Benedictine school with a rich history. This is a wonderful school community and evidence of that should be apparent from the moment one walks through the door. With these improvements, we will have the ability to show the new individual what a wonderful educational institution Benet Academy truly is.”

The projected completion date is October 2008, just a couple of months after the start of the 2008-2009 school year.